I wanted to uninstall and move some applications from my homescreen, but when I tap and hold to get the menu for uninstalling and editing, nothing happens. The icon is selected, but there is no response. This was working fine earlier, but has been broken for the last month or so.

Does anybody know if this is connected to any settings, or would you guess it's an error?

Just a raw guess: does this problem persist after a reboot? Maybe simply something got stuck. The hard way would be to go to settings > apps > manage apps and clear the launchers cache and, if that doesn't help, its data as well (the latter would mean you need to re-configure the app completely, but your screens being clean).
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IzzyDec 7 '12 at 8:29

3 Answers
3

As it turned out, my "raw guess" was a direct hit -- so to make it easier to find for future "searchers", I make it an answer as promised:

This problem is mostly caused by the fact that something got messed up with the apps' cache and/or data. So what you should try first is:

Go to Settings → Apps → Manage Apps

Select your launcher

Hit the button labeled "Clear Cache"

If that doesn't solve the issue, take the same steps -- but in the last step hit the "Clear Data" button (note: This will reset the launcher configuration as if you just removed the app and did a fresh re-install).

If you still had no luck, you could simply uninstall and re-install the launcher (as long as it's not a system app). This will do all the above, but additionally remove (and on re-install re-create) the apps Dalvik cache. Count it as "partial factory reset".

Having mentioned the dangerous word: A factory-reset can serve as a "last resort" (as it cleans the entire device) -- but you would lose all your data that way, and needed to re-configure everything anew. In case you have to do that (I don't think it is necessary for your case here), take care to have a backup of as much of your data as possible.

If you are running ADW, you probably activated the "Lock Desktop" feature. This prevents accidentally adding/moving/removing icons from the home screen. To disable the lock, simply press the menu button and click "Unlock Desktop".

In the most recent update of ADW, if your desktop is locked, pressing the menu button pops up a dialog box asking if you want to unlock the desktop.